Packing wooden dishes



(No Model.)

B. M. THOMPSON.

PACKING WOODEN DISHES. No. 351,006. Patented Oct. 19, 1886.

WITNESSES. J/VVMUR.

UNrTnn STATES EVERT M. THOMPSON, OF EVANSVILLE, INDIANA.

PACKING woooEN DISHES. I

\LJEIQEI forming part of Letters Patent No. 351,006, dated October 19, 1886.

Application tiled January 25, 1886. Serial No. 189,620.

(X0 model.)

To (LZZ whom, it may concern;

Be it known that I, Evnn'r M. Trronrso v, a resident of Evansville, Indiana,have made certain new and useful Improvements in \Vooden- Dish Packages, a description of which is set forth in the following specification, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in the several figures of which like letters rep resent like parts.

My invention relates to the construction of wooden dishes with reference to economy in packing for transportation, and will be understood from the following description.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents two of the blanks as they are cut from the steamed wood connected together. Fig. 2 represents a completed blank, the dotted lines upon the sides indicating the dimensions of the blank when freshly cut from the steamed wood, while the full lines indicate the comparative size of the blank when dry, the shrinkage being entirely across the grain. In Figs. 1 and 2 the fine lines show the direction of the grain. Fig. 3 is a. top view of the completed dish ready for packing, the tine lines in this figure being for shading only, the direction of the grain being-the same as in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a view of three of the dishes as they are intended to be nested, the upper and lower dishes showing a side view (marked 8) and the middle an end View, which is marked a, and they may be taken to represent the three of the dishes in Fig. 5, only shown farther apart to illustrate more clearly the method of packing. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a package of the dishes compactly nested in one another, the grain of each dish crossing the grain of the dish above and below it, and the wire or cord placed around it to hold them in place. Fig. 6 shows a completed package wrapped and secured by wireor cord and ready for shipment.

It is a well-known fact that the space occupied in vehicles for transportation has an in trinsic value, and that it frequently becomes the basis of computation for freight rates. The item or weight is also important in ship ping; but charges for transportation of bulky wares are usually based on the number of cubic feet of space occupied more than their weight.

Of late years the manufacture of wooden dishes from thi n veneer has become important,

and the bulk and intrln sic vaiueotthe dishesare out of allproportion with each other, the bulk being comparatively great while the intrinsic value ol'a package of dishes is small; hence the necessity imposed upon manufacturers ofthcse goods to reduce the charges of transportation, or else see their goods crowded out of the market by dishes made of other materials, whose bulk may be so reduced that they may be made to occupy less space in a car. Thus dishes made of paper pack closely, and need no other protection than a strong wrapper while in transit, and the cost of wooden dishes over that of paper makes it necessary to devise a means of lessening the cost of transportation and at the same time affording ample protection against breakage in handling, to which the light dry wood is very liable.

Heretofore wooden dishes have been packed in wooden crates for shipment, a hundred in each crate, and these have to be made strong in order to protect the under crates when a mass of them is piled high, which is liable to be jerked or jostled in transportation, and when made strong enough they are unavoidably heavy. By dispensing with this wooden crate, therefore, I am able to reduce the cost of freight, and consequently the cost of the dishes themselves to the consumer, inasmuch as I am enabled to use twine or wire and a paper or other flexible wrapper, thus saving not only the cost of additional freight, but the cost of the wooden crate itself, which in a large order amounts to a considerable expense over and above the cost of the wire or twine and the paper wrapper which I am enabled to use. Furthermore, by my method the wooden dishes can be nested more closely and solidly, and a hundred ofthem will thus occupy less space than when packed in a wooden crate. Again, the wooden dishes heretofore have been of such shape that they would nest or pack together only when the ends of each dish were in contact with the ends of the dish containing it, and the result was that the bottom dishes were pressed into a scoop shape and the top dishes were caved in at the ends, both of which are greatly detrimental. and injurious to the dish. In nesting my dishes the grain of one dish will cross the grain of the one be low it or above it-that is to say, the grain of each dish runs transversely to the grain of the {they will not nest closely when dry, for the thin material of which they are made invariably shrinks more or less across the grain, but does not shrink at all in the line of the grain, so that if the dishes nest when wet, when dry they are not of the same size and will not fit into each other. The blank, therefore, must be nicely planned with reference to this one way ofshrinkage, so that when dried and made up, they may be packed, each fitting closely into the other, the bottom of the dish being substantially square, the planes in each being the same, and the angles formed by the sides and ends with the bottom in each being the same, each box having the same geometrical proportions. They can then be nested closely together, and will not burst or break any of the dishes, either at the top or bottom. This shrinkage of the dish when dried amounts to about thirteen-sixteenths of an inch to the .foot in the material commonly used-such as sweet-gum. This is illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, the full lines of the width and length indicating its size when dry, while the dotted lines on the sides and rounded corners indicate the amount of shrinkage, and it will be seen that the angles of the scores are also slightly changed by this shrinkage.

.Thus cotton-wood and sweet-gum, both ofwhich are used in making dishes, shrink unequally, and when the blank is made up and the shri nk age takesplace not only is there a shrinkage in the width of the center of the dish, but also in the flaps, and this makes a difference in the angles of the bottom and the sides when the flaps are folded up to formthe ends of the dish, as shown in Fig. 2. When sweet-gum is used, about thirteen -sixteenths of an inch is allowed for shrinkage, so that the wet blank is that much wider than it is long. After being cut and scored the outer flaps are bound up, the inner flaps being'preferabl y left inside,

as shown in Fig. 3, and the overlapping outer and inner flaps are fastened togethenwith a wire staple or other suitable device, and when made up, owing to the peculiar proportions of the blank, the box will be substantially square, all the angles and planes in each dish being also the same, so that each box or dish will have such geometrical proportions that they maybe nested one within the other, each with its grain running transversely to the grain of the one beneath it, so that when nested the side of one will be in contact with the end of the one containing it, and the package,when completed, will be substantially equal on all sides, and will be so strong and secure that it will stand much rough handling, and even heavy weights may be placed upon it without any injury to the dishes of which it is composed. Asa result, I rednce the cost of transportation in the first place; I dispense with the cost of the wooden crate in the second place; and, lastly,lsecureaperfect similarity of shape in all the dishes, and these results are new, and are notaccomplished by any method of making or nesting dishes which has been known or used prior to my invention.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is the following:

1. A seasoned wood-veneer dish, square at the bottom and inall horizontal cross-sections, and having inclined sides and ends, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. A seasoned wood-veneer'dish, square atthe bottom and in all other horizontal crosssections, and having inclined sides and ends, all inclined at the same angle to the bottom, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

3; A package containing a plurality of seasoned wood-veneer dishes, each square at the bottom and at all other horizontal cross-sections, and nested compactly with the grain of each dish crossing the grain of the adjacent dish, inclosed in a wrapper of paper or other EVERT M. THOMPSON.

Witnesses:

FRANKLIN SoURs, H. D. TENNEY. 

